1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new practice batting or hitting tee. More particularly, the invention relates to a baseball or softball practice tee that can be easily adjusted to the right position with a mimimum of effort.
Specifically, the invention provides a new type of baseball and softball practice tee that is easily adjustable for use in training young ball players to acquire timing, wrist action and swing. The new tee broadly comprises a planar base, an elongated slotted horizontal support member adapted to moving over the top of the base and attached thereto by an adjustable locking means placed within the slot such that in the unlocked position the support member can be slid along the planar base to a new location on the base and then locked in the desired position, an L shaped elongated tubular pedestal having a long tubular arm and a short tubular arm and being pivotedly attached by locking means in the center of a U support which is firmly attached to the end of the elongated slotted horizontal support member such that the L shaped tubular pedestal can be pivoted to have one of the tubular arms in a vertical position and the other arm in a horizontal position and then locked in that position, and both of the arms of the L shaped tubular pedestal having attached at the open end an elongated resilient tubular member adapted to holding a ball at the unright terminal end.
2 Prior Art
In the game of baseball, one of the most difficult skills to master is hitting. First, a hitter must be able to coordinate the swing of a bat with the location of a ball so that good contact with the ball can be made while swinging the bat. Once this is mastered, the hitter must next learn to make good contact with the ball at the various positions at which it may cross home plate, from an inside pitch to an outside pitch, and from a high pitch to a low pitch, and various combinations of these two variables.
In development of these skills, the trainer or coach uses a baseball tee to support a ball at a selected height above a representation of the baseball home plate. With the ball so positioned, the batter can practice swinging thereat to assist in the process of coordinating his hands with his eyes and in the development of his wrist and arm muscles.
Various practice batting tees have been developed in the past for this purpose. The practice tees developed to date, however, have had various limitations which have limited their overall acceptance in the baseball world. In some cases, the tees have not been adjustable and different tees must be used for different hitting zones. In other cases the tees have been partially adjustable, but not able to cover all the hitting zones. In many cases, the tees have been adjustable, but the adjustment has required considerable time and manipulation to obtain a tee in the desired position. In other cases, the tees have been very expensive to produce, and the cost has been prohibitive for many of the smaller teams.
Following are examples of the prior art which disclose many of the tees having the above-noted limitations: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,383,686, 4,277,691, 4,516,771, 2,862,712, 4,508,340, 3,877,695, 2,616,692 and 3,489,411.
U.S. Pat No. 3,489,411 discloses and claims a baseball practice tee which is adjustable for certain areas, but the tee is limited by the fact that it does not cover certain outside areas and requires several adjustments before the hitting zone can be changed.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide a new practice batting tee for baseball and softball which corrects many of the above-described limitations. It is a further object to provide an adjustable practice tee that makes it possible to achieve every hitting zone that a batter would experience in normal game. It is a further object to provide a new adjustable practice batting tee that can be quickly and easily adjustable to the new desired position. It is a further object to provide an adjustable practice batting tee that can be used to hold a plurality of balls to train for quick judgment of the hitter. It is a further object to provide a new adjustable hitting tee which has improved stability and easy movability. It is a further object to provide a new adjustable practice tee that can be produced at low cost and available to all baseball and softball teams. These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof.